FMI Awards Students Scholarships for Food Safety
The Food Marketing Institute (FMI) Foundation, in partnership with the Safe Quality Food Institute (SQFI), a division of FMI, has awarded 15 academic scholars with the 2019 Food Safety Auditing Scholarship and Education Travel Grant.
The scholarship recognizes outstanding students enrolled in a university food and agricultural science program who are interested in pursuing a career in food systems auditing. Each winner receives a $3,000 scholarship with an all-expense-paid trip to the SQF International Conference to network with more than 850 food safety professionals in attendance.
The 2019 recipients are:
- Ayodeji Adeniyi, Texas Tech University
- Amanda Chin, University of Massachusetts Amherst
- Darvin Cuellar-Milian, Texas Tech University
- Sicun Fan, North Carolina State University
- James Hearn, Oklahoma State University
- Xingyi Jiang, Florida State University
- Karuna Kharel, Louisiana State University
- Xingchen Liu, University of Maryland
- Claire Marik, Virginia Tech
- Mariia Melnychuk, Niagara College
- Sara Munoz, Texas Tech University
- Ikechukwu Oguadinma, The University of Georgia
- Yadwinder Rana, Cornell University
- Charley Rayfield, Oklahoma State University
- Daniel Vega, Kansas State University
“In this era of smarter food shoppers, it is critical the food retail industry has smarter food safety,” said David Fikes, FMI Foundation executive director. “More than ever, we need capable food safety auditors with a passion for assuring that secure, high-quality food is produced, packaged and distributed around the globe. I’m pleased the foundation can support the next-generation of well-trained auditors, ensuring high standards of food safety for future generations.”
FMI member companies operate nearly 33,000 retail food stores and 12,000 pharmacies. The Arlington, Va.-based trade organization has almost 500 associate member companies that provide products and services to the food retail industry.
